The Canary Who Learned To Fly

on a

, cold, and meticulously planned by

wenty y

ayal, and the phantom pain of a surgeon's scalpel carving into my flesh while my screams echoed unheard. I remember looking through the observation glass and

r. He alway

en, I

ecution. My body was whole, unscarred. The timeline had reset, a glitch in t

an exile disguised as a severance package-I didn't cry. I didn'

w he was talk

already lived through

secret safe house, I stitched up the wounds of a blinded soldier, a man whose life hung by a thread. He never saw my face. He only knew

Ruthless Capo. The man my sister

lie from a mile away, believed the beautiful deception because he wanted it to be true. He wanted th

, and they silenced me on an operating table. This t

isappear. I will let Seraphin

l not be

not be the lamb

d I will wait, with the patience of the dead, to watch their entire world burn.

pte

na Viti

to London, fully aware that in another timeline, this was the exact moment he ha

arp against my thumb,

first-cla

ckage for a daughter wh

lo, the Don of the Chicago

scotch, the amber liquid swirli

s flat. It was the same detached tone he used

down at

smooth.

e phantom pain of a scalpe

, blinding cold lights o

bered b

n window and seeing him standing there,

s the p

had someh

fe, I was

lly, at

t," my mother said from

d ring on her finger. It caught the ligh

t look at

ortrait of Isabella that

he future wife of the Capo. T

t the spa

lood

the basement, only acknowledg

essary, Seraphina," my father s

low sip of

The alliance requires a perfect

strac

e way of saying

during the territory w

ught I w

dier, a man whose life hung by a thread. He never saw my face. He only knew my voice, the scent of vanilla, an

ight, my father and Isa

claimed m

imed my

spot a lie from a mile away, believed the beau

golden girl to

invisibl

at the ti

nd

s an

nce for Seraphina Vi

th certificate f

t life, I

d cr

t me stay. I had tried

lenced me on an

e, I fel

a block of ic

od, Fathe

s tasted

seemed surprised by

ears. He expe

w he was talki

*. "Pack your things. Do not make a scene at the engagement

to leave

finally

phina," she said, her voice dripping

n't a

vy oak doors and closed

llway, my footsteps silen

oing to Lon

ng to let

use of cards burn, and I wou

st blow on